Cafe Gealach
by IceCoatedHeart
Summary: A new cafe opens, and with it brings a faded voice from Roux's past
1. Chapter One

She could have not seen his face for a million years and not forget it. The rugged, almost sharp angles of his face, the deep smooth brown of his eyes and the way his lips curved when he smiled, were drilling into her brain forever. It was torture.  
  
He limbered slowly by her café on the corner almost everyday, gazing through the wide windows, glancing at the glossy bar and tables of beautifully crafted chestnut, at the large sleek white dog that contented itself by sleeping at her feet and looking up lazily when someone entered the café.  
  
He passed by now as Peony Ellis watched him and ran a wet rag over the counter of the bar and nudged the great sleeping dog with her bare foot. There was a slow song embedded with soft violins and a woman's voice that sounded like whiskey warned by a heath fire.  
  
Peony sometimes took the pleasure of matching her voice with the woman's, but not that morning. She poured herself a cup of coffee of which the beans she had just ground and sipped it absently without adding the heavy cream she kept chilled in a deep silver dish.  
  
The dog looked up and let out a low rumbling whine when the door eased open. "I'm sorry but I don't open for another twenty minutes" She called out without lifting her eyes from the last dregs of the black coffee. "I can wait" The voice responded and she looked up and was met with Roux Callahan's dark eyes.  
  
She surveyed him for a long while before shrugging. "Suit yourself" She murmured and disappeared behind the swinging doors for a minute and returned with a tea cup and the kettle of coffee that was slowly puffing fragrant clouds of white steam into the cool air of the café. "The best I can offer you know is coffee" She said as she set it in front of his with a 'clink'.  
  
"That's fine" He said, his accent deeper then her own, but both carrying strong roots back to the Emerald Isle. He tilted his head to the side and listened to the girl with the break-your-heart-voice. "Do you still sing Peony? You had such a lovely voice"  
  
Peony pinned him with her eyes the color of the richest chocolate liqueur. "Sometimes" She said calmly. "I'm not a fool, I recognized you the first day you stepped off the little boat from our pretty hometown" She refilled her cup and shook her head.  
  
"It's my hometown Roux, you gave it up. Seems you've given a lot up since you packed your bags and never looked back at anything at all" Roux sighed a little darkly. "You left as well Peony, to open up your little Café Gealach. Moon Café is it not?" Peony eyed him steadily for a moment. "Nice to see you haven't forgotten your Gaelic". "I haven't forgotten quite a few things, like how complicated things got after-" Peony raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, daring him to finish the sentence.  
  
"Yes," Peony agreed. "Things tend to get complicated when you walk out on someone when they needed you, but what do I know?" "I didn't walk out!" He declared a little too angrily. "Oh then it must just be my silly female mind, because what you did Roux, seemed an awful lot like walking out" She replied in an equal amount of anger. "Oh come on Peony, we all know that your mind is a damn steel trap". The dog had now woken up completely and was now barking in time with the heated argument.  
  
Roux slammed a balled fist onto the top of the bar's counter top when enough force to make the thick silver dish dance and spill some of the creamy white liquid onto the surface. Peony heard a resounding crack and winced. "Nice to see you again Peony" He said in a tightly controlled voice. He rose from the bar and let the door of the café slam behind him. Peony stifled a scream and threw a teacup encrusted with dusty violet enamel flowers where his head had been just a second ago. She watched the white ceramic soak in the cold coffee and sighed as she went for the brook in the back of the bar and began to swipe at the pieces as she as she seriously considered closing the café for the day.  
  
Peony probably would have, but she hated letting Roux know that he had gotten the best of her. She and Roux had gone as far back as to wearing nappies together, but as they got older, things definitely took on a different twist in their relationship. When they got older, Roux began to notice things about Peony he hadn't noticed before, like how the peach freckles spanned out like whiskers across her lily-white skin, or how the sun managed to catch her rose gold hair just right. And as more time went by, he decided that it was right to act upon his impulses.  
  
The music had changed and now a lonely piano was thumbing out the lovely rhythm of 'Pretty Ballerina". She hummed along with the piano absently and the sleek dog beg an to move about the café, sniffing at her empty food dish and prodded her wet nose at Peony's leg in hopeful affection. She ran a hand over the dog's smooth fur and ran her fingers over the long somewhat floppy ears that had dragged on the dusty floor when Aingeal was only a puppy.  
  
There was a musical jingle at the door when the top of the door hit he little silver bell. She looked up annoyed that it might be Roux, coming back to finished what he started. But the man who stood nervously in the doorway was not Roux, and this fact alone instantly put the man in good light. His hair was black and curly as it framed his narrow face and silvery-blue eyes. "What can I help you with darling?" She called out to him from behind the bar, as it seems that he had not seen her. He was wearing a starched black priests outfit, though he looked far too young to be wearing it. "I am Pere Henri" He said more then a little nervously and took a few steps towards the bar. "Pleasure to meet you Pere Henri." She said as she held out a hand that was decorated by silver rings encrusted with various precious stones. "I'm Peony Ellis"  
  
He stared at it for a moment as if he had never seen a hand before and had no idea what to do with it. He finally took hold of it and was amazed by the softness of the lean tapered fingers. "May I get you anything to drink?" She said as she began to fetch more glasses, as the café was about to officially open. "Hot water with lemon?" He asked, his throat was going a little dry looking at the woman with ivory skin and lips that looked like sin. "Hot water and lemon it is" She said and began to boil the water, vaguely aware that he was starring at her back. "You're Irish" Pere Henri said, but this was more a statement then a question. "I am, yes" She said as she poured the boiling water over the freshly cut lemon.  
  
She slid the glass towards him and he drank it without thinking about he effect the hot water would have on his throat and tongue. "There is another man from Ireland who resides here" Pere Henri said as he poked at the remaining lemon in the bottom of the glass. "Roux Callahan?" Peony asked a little too sharply and made the more man jolt in his seat. "I'm sorry. " Peony sincerely apologized. "Is this mans name Roux Callahan?" Pere Henri took a minute before nodding. "I believe he is. Do you know him?" He asked, interest sparkling in his eyes that may have been a size too big for his head.  
  
"Roux and I go a long way back to when we where born in Ireland" Pere Henri nodded and offered a smile that Peony found totally endearing. "Um," The poor Father began uncertainly. "I would like you invite you to worship with us in a midnight Mass on Saturday, actually it would be Sunday if we start late, I get a fright sometimes when I am up in the balcony, but-" It took Peony a minute before she realized that Pere Henri wasn't fishing for compliments as soon men did, but was genuinely nervous around her.  
  
"Father," She said softly and put a hand on his that was lying on the bar. He made a quick jerky movement as if she had just shocked him and looked at her with his wonderfully big eyes. "I would be delighted to attend". He smiled nervously and ran his fingers of his free hand along the starched collar of the clothes as a odd warmth began to spread to the rest of him, starting from where Peony's hand rested still on his. She drew her hand back as he rose and did a funny sort of little bow. "I must go now" He said, and casting a look to Aingeal who was eyeing him with interest from the floor, turned and walked out the door, the little jingle echoing in the almost empty café. 


	2. Chapter Two

Townspeople wandered around outside Café Gealach all morning, only a few popping their heads in, indulging with an early drink of coffee liqueur, coffee or the simple hot water and lemon that Peony had never cared for at all, for she preferred a drink with robust flavor that burst on your tongue and burned your throat. She could almost hear her mother clicking her tongue and scolding her. "Bi a ribhinn" or to ' be a lady' in other words.  
  
Peony loved her family dearly, but it was so stifling and after 24 years, she decided that it was time to make her own way, to be saor. Aingeal, the Saluki she had bought from a traveling Scotsman was what brought Peony back from memory lane. Peony gathered the poppy colored skirt she was wearing and walked outside to begin work on the logo she had sketched across the glass the other day. She had chosen a wonderfully cheerful sunshine yellow that couldn't do anything other then catch someone's attention. The paint glittered in the early morning sun and Peony smiled, it was just how she wanted it to look.  
  
The script on the glass was in thick pretty loopy letters that curved and dipped as if it were under the spell of some unknown master. She ran her fingers through her loose hair and looked over her shoulder as a clutch of blue0haired ladies scuttled past her, eyeing the shop with a mix of interest and contempt. She smiled brightly at them. "Good morning madams, would you come in for some coffee?" Catching the accent of her voice, they scowled at her and walked away in a closer group as if Peony would attack them at any moment. "We're the lowest rung of society" A mocking voice said in her eye and she didn't bother turning around, she knew it was Roux. "Why don't you go to what ever hole you crawled out of Callahan?" She said coldly and turned to walk back into the café. "Well that's not very nice now is it?" He asked with a smile. An icy fire was burning in her eyes, turning them the color of burnished gold coins. "I'm through being polite with you Roux". He raised a dark eyebrow and a sarcastic smile played around his mouth. "I didn't know that you were being polite, but if you say so, I'll trust you"  
  
He stepped across the cream white tiles that she had set the other day and scattered dry mud all over the floor. "Callahan," She said annoyed. "I just set those the other day, now you've scattered mud all about them". She went and fetched the stiff bristled broom and threw it at him. "Clean it up". Despite the hate in Peony's eyes, Roux was still grinning. "You sound just like my mother" He said, but took the broom and obediently began to sweep the dry mud out of the quaint café.  
  
Aingeal now bothered herself enough to force herself to her feet and now began to sniff around Roux. "Pretty dog," He murmured and ran a hand over the silky fur. "What happened to Sinead? I thought she was allergic to dogs?" Peony shook her head and snatched the broom from his hand. "Thank you Roux, you can go now" She said coldly and tapped a foot impatiently. "What have I done besides leaving to make you so angry with me Peony?" Peony wanted to yell at him, she wanted to through things at him and rage, but she couldn't. "You broke my heart" She said quietly and couldn't look at Roux as he stared at her in the silence.  
  
"I'm so sorry Peo," He said, using the nickname he had given her as a child. She shook her head and sighed. "I don't want you to be sorry Roux, what I want to know is how you plan to make it up to me, to everyone." He didn't speak for a moment and took the opportunity to evaluate him. His hair that used to be brown was now streaked blonde with the sun; his skin had always been the wonderful light caramel color and his eyes were as dark as ever, and damn him to the devil, he was insanely handsome.  
  
"Why did you come here Peony?" Roux asked softly. "Of all the places in Europe, of all the places in the world, why did you come here?". She didn't know how to give him an answer that didn't sound completely ridiculous, so she lowered herself to lie to him. "I figured I wanted to tackle France before I went for the whole world just yet" He nodded and settled against the bar, propped on his elbows. The truth of the matter was that she had been searching for him, looking in all the places that he had ever talked about visiting. She never expected to find him in a little quiet countryside in the south of France.  
  
"You always talked about opening a café," He said as he stared up at the ceiling then back to her. He wished she wasn't so beautiful, he had left when she was 17, and while she had the ability to turn heads when she walked into a room without ease, she never exercised it, not like she was now. Her hair was falling in gentle curls around her face, framing the delicate heart-shape of it, accenting her eyes and lips that were painted a sheer raspberry color to ward off the chill that the morning had brought. The poppy colored skirt made her skin glow like alabaster with a brightly burning candle. She took his breath the moment he had walked into Café Gealach. She didn't even need the make-up she was wearing, her lips were plump and naturally the color of antique roses and her skin provided the subtle blush that accented her high cheek bones that could only been achieved by excellent breeding, and her eyelashes where perfectly curled and dark gold.  
  
A tiny necklace was hanging from her elegant neck and Roux traced a finger around it daringly. A tiny yet glistening pink sapphire hung from the end and Roux's lips tilted in a smile. "You always said you were going to have a pink sapphire necklace some day" He murmured, looking up at her from under his thick dark eyelashes. "Well it's not exactly what I had in mind but it's a start." Roux was silent for a moment. "Aye you could say that, yeah you could" He was fond of repeating himself; it was something that had always endeared him to her.  
  
"I'm sorry that I behaved badly this morning Roux" She said embarrassed as she went to pour the both of them a cup of tea. "I acted like a stubborn child" "Yeah you did," He said immediately and Peony had to force herself not to say anything she would most certainly regret later on. "But I suppose I might have deserved it" Peony smirked. "Might have?" She said and Roux smiled wider. "Alright, I definitely did, plus I feel bad that you wasted one of your pretty tea cups to through at my head" Peony laughed and slide the cup full of fragrant coffee made the way she knew he liked it, heavy on the cream and sugar. "Believe me, it wasn't wasted"  
  
"So tell me about this woman I've been hearing all about, Vianne Rocher?" Roux stared into the swirling light brown coffee and sighed to himself. "Vianne and her daughter, Anouk, they're wanderers, they no longer live here" He said it so sadly that Peony's heart ached a little for him. "You cared about them both a great deal, didn't you Roux?" She asked softly and he nodded. "Yeah, but you can't beat fate, and if you think you have it has a nasty habit of coming back and proving how wrong you are" He chuckled sadly. "This used to be her chocolaterie, although it's changed over time" He motioned to the walls that Peony had painted a dusty violet that had matched the color of the flowers on the elegant teacups that were sitting contentedly on wind chestnut shelves.  
  
"You miss her, both of them" Roux nodded and took a sip of the coffee for time in case Peony wanted him to say anything else. "You couldn't beat Anouk's spirit though, sharp as a tack and as bright as the sun, but if wandering is in your blood them you can't deny it". The small ache in her heart spread for him. "I'm sorry I brought it up" She said and set her already empty cup aside. "Sometimes you have to talk about things, even if they hurt. So saying this, what about Sinead?" Peony's skin went unusually ashen and her eyes seemed to detach from the rest of the world at the mention of her daughter. "She died Roux," She said in a cold matter-of-fact voice. "And you weren't there"  
  
"Peony-" He reached out a hand for hers but she quickly stood up. "I have to start the soup and building sandwiches before the lunch crowd comes in, I always get a good sizeable turnout for lunch" He wanted to say something, anything, to her, but she had clearly detached herself from the situation so efficiently that any attempted words of comfort would simply bounce off her icy exterior. He leaned over the counter and placed a kiss on Peony's cheek, slightly brushing her lips. "Well then I won't be in your way, I'll see you around Peony, it's a guarantee" 


	3. Chapter Three

The lunch crowd came in a flood, most didn't even care that Peony was so Irish she'd probably bleed green, as long as she made them the brick thick roast lamb and soups and stews so thick that it lingered in your mouth even after the last drop was consumed. Various chatter was taking place in the soup when the door jingled and everyone fell silent.  
  
Peony smiled when she saw Pere Henri standing a little nervously in her doorway and she couldn't help but grin, he was just so adorable. "Hello Father" She called out to him and he looked a little relieved to see her. He walked to the bar and blushed a little when she leaned over and kissed his cheek, it earned a few curious stares but when Peony looked at them, they quickly resumed eating their lunches with renewed vigor.  
  
"What can I get you?" She asked as he settled at one of the bar stools. "What is everyone else eating?" He asked a little nervously and Peony just wanted to wrap him in a blanket and be his mother. "Roast lamb sandwiches and tomato soup" His face lit up a little and Peony expected that it had been a long time since he'd had actual food. "Then that's what I'll have, please" He said and Peony began to fix the sandwich and poured the thick soup from the black cauldron looking pot into a blow that was laced with peach color roses. "I don't know if I have the right change" He said a little nervously as he glanced up at the board where the prices were written. "On the house Father, would you like Guinness with it?" She said with a cheerful smile and pushed the food towards him.  
  
He looked up as if Peony had suddenly sprouted a second head, "Oh no I-I don't drink" Peony's eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as if she had never heard these words used in a sentence before. "Alright," She said slowly and set a deep-set spoon next to the steaming bowl. "Actually Father," She said as she began to clean the bar of empties. "It's awfully crowded, why don't you come eat back in the kitchen" His dinner-plate wide eyes darted around the homey café. "Oh, that's not a good idea" He said quickly and tried not to meet Peony's warm honey eyes. "People would talk" He said down to the bowl of soup and he continued. "The Comte de Reynaud-" "I've heard about him, he's not a happy little man is he? Anyway, the Comte is not here, I would like it if you were more comfortable"  
  
Henri eyed her inadvertently for a moment, taking in what she looked like, the way her lips curled and her saucy eyes had a sly, cat-like tilt just at the edge. He noted that she had the most amazing eyes, brown one minute, gold the next, full Cupid's bow lips that he knew drove every man in the room crazy, and he couldn't deny that he himself wondered how they felt, how they tasted. He drew himself away from staring at her and shifted uncomfortably on the wooden stool, he was hoping that Peony would miss it, but those eyes never missed anything. "Actually Mademoiselle Ellis I have to go" He quickly jumped off the stool and rushed out the door, eyes following him.  
  
Peony looked down at the food on the counter and sighed; it had hardly been touched at all. To busy her hands, she tied her long hair into a slightly messy bun and began to tidy the spot where he had been and pretended that she couldn't feel everyone's eyes on her and the empty seat. A woman drifted through the café not too long after Pere Henri ushered himself out as if the devil were threatening to burn down his precious church at that very moment. She had a bright, careless smile as she walked up to the bar.  
  
"Hi, what can I get you?" Peony asked as the woman removed her brown leather jacket. "Your citrus tea sounds amazing, with that throw in three chocolate almond biscotti would you?" Peony nodded and went to work as she poured the light tawny tea into a bowl wide cup as to dip the 3 biscotti she arranged prettily on the plate etched with silver daffodils and crescent moons. "I'm Josephine Quito," She said, back to using her maiden name besides 'Muscat'. Peony took her hand and smiled brightly. "I'm Peony- " "Ellis, a friend of mine was talking about you earlier, he had convinced me to come investigate, I own the Café Armande a few blocks away"  
  
Peony's smile faded a little "Your friend, his name wouldn't happen to be Roux Callahan would it?" She asked and Josephine nodded. "I didn't know that he actually had a last name, but yes, his name is Roux" Peony rolled her eyes and propped herself up against the bar with her elbows. "Aye, as much as my dear friend hates to admit it, it's Callahan that runs strong and true through his blue veins, for you see, the Callahan's from Kinvarra are one of the most wealthiest families in all Ireland. Roux doesn't like people to know how much money he actually has so he became a river gypsy, selling his pretty little baubles" She said motioning to the tear drop shaped necklace hanging from Josephine's neck made from moss green agate.  
  
Josephine leaned forward with interest, running the biscotti between her fingers eagerly. "So just how much money does our Roux have exactly?" Peony shrugged her slender shoulders. "I don't know exactly, I'd say around 3.5 million, Roux hates knowing it so he pretends that he's poor and begging for scraps, he hasn't been home in 6 years because people know that he has a very large lump of money under his name. Plus his father is sick and he's the main beneficiary, if he doesn't claim the money that it might as well go float away in Galway Bay"  
  
The two women giggled and Peony went to pour her own tea and they talked conversationally for a while before the subject slowly returned back to money. "And there's no way that Roux's going to claim the money once his father dies?" Peony shook her head. "No, I think he feels guilty, like he's not worthy or something, but then again I always thought that Roux was a little mithear" When Josephine only looked at her for a long while, she explained. "Mithear means 'crazy'. I'm sorry I'm not used to speaking English all the time, in Kinvarra it was perfectly normal to slip into Gaelic, I suppose it's just stupid here huh?"  
  
Josephine shook her head. "No, see this boring little town needs someone to shake it up and keep it on its toes. Keep the Gaelic," She advised and Peony giggled into her palm and drank her tea slowly, savoring the rich taste. "Do you miss your home?" Josephine asked, resting her chin on her balled fist, milk chocolate brown hair falling around in face in messy, endearing curls. "Sometimes I do, yes. But this is such a beautiful town as well, very close knit" She added as she cast a glance to a group of woman who were chatting excitedly and glancing over to Peony.  
  
"Yes," Josephine agreed with a small laugh. "We're not used to change, new people or friendliness, I think that it's all three that scared our poor little Pere Henri, I swear I don't want to think about what would happen to that man in a real crisis, you bring a change to this place Peony, a good one, and you're one of the nicest people here so far, you remind me of-" She paused mid-sentence but she knew what Josephine was going to say. "Vianne Rocher?" Peony offered. "I'm sorry," Josephine said, a little embarrassed. "It's just that she'd helped me fix out my life, encouraged me to leave my stupid drunk husband, start a new life, then one day she was just gone with her daughter, gone as if they never were"  
  
Peony nodded. "Yes, I know about her, this used to be her chocolaterie, Roux told me all about her, he didn't say he loved her, but I knew he did, it was obvious how hurt he was the first time he saw that her shop had been changed, as if it sanctified the fact that she wasn't coming back". Josephine sighed a little sadly and bit into a crispy biscotti, let the flavor and warm chocolate spread over her tongue. "It's not easy to survive here Peony," She said, offering the advice in a serious tone. "There are people here who would want you to fail, some that want you to succeed, like I do, but you may never know who they are"  
  
Peony shrugged and poured more tea and drank it deeply. "Well I'm not going to give those few the pleasure of seeing me fail, Irish women never fail" She said and raised a haughty eyebrow that gave her face enough of a comical look to make Josephine laugh. "You're going to be fine here Peony Ellis, just don't let Roux or anyone get you down, most people here are closed minded idiots anyway, they treat anyone new who opens a shop as if they're opening a crack filled whore house" She looked down at her watch and gathered her jacket. "My break is over for lunch, it was so nice to meet you Peony" She received the hug that Josephine offered over the bar and watched her leave, hips swinging prettily, noticing and being noticed and Peony began to clear away the dishes. No, she wasn't going to give others the pleasure of watching her fail, and she most certainly wasn't going to give it to Roux, if it could be the last thing she would ever do, she would rub it in Roux Callahan's disgustingly handsome face and laugh her Gaelic head off. 


	4. Chapter Four

Roux was waiting for Josephine as she left Café Gealach, his dark eyes intensely fixed on her as she crossed the street. "So what did she say?" He demanded as he nearly pounced on her. "I don't think she poses much of a threat to you Roux, she's probably less then half your weight, and by the look of it, it can't be much," She murmured as she eyed Roux's long lean torso with some interest, which she quickly squashed. She didn't swim in other people's pool, and by the way Roux had been acting lately, Peony Ellis had Roux held tightly around the collar.  
  
"Looks can be deceiving, Peony Ellis can rip your head off and ruin your life without thinking twice about it" Josephine rolled her eyes. "You need to relax a little Roux Callahan" She said with a laugh and she immediately knew it was a mistake. His eyes went to the color of onyx and his face looked as if it had turned to stone.  
  
"Did Peony tell you that?" He asked and Josephine couldn't do anything but nod. "I'll kill her" He said in an odd voice and began to march towards the café, Josephine snagged Roux by the arm and pulled him out of the middle of the street before he could reach the pretty door of Café Gealach. "Roux stop acting like a PMSed woman and tell me what is the huge animosity between you and Peony, she seems like a really nice person-" "Yeah she does seem like it, but she's.there are no words to describe how Peony really is, but what you see is definitely not what you get"  
  
Josephine almost had to drag him across the street to Café Armande and earned a few disapproving clucks from the 'pure blood' townspeople. She shoved him into the café and sat him down at a table, ignoring the curious glances from the dwindling crowd. "Tell me what's gone on between you and Peony Ellis" Roux waved a hand away, as if trying to disengage a pesky fly, it was an ultimately French gesture but Josephine didn't dare tell him so. "7 years ago, Peony and I were.involved.and this involvement let to her having a baby, a little girl named Sinead. We planned on getting married, starting a new life and being happy. But then my dad got very sick, and I didn't want to have the burden of all that money, so I left Peony with our daughter and traveled where the water led me  
  
"But while I lived with Sinead, she was the sweetest little girl, big brown eyes and the finest blonde hair, she would sit with me and I would read stories and play little silly games, then one morning I found out about my dad and left. This morning, when I first talked to Peony after 7 years, I found out that Sinead had died, she had been sick for a long time" Josephine's eyes dimmed slightly, she could see how making Roux talk was hurting him, but she had to know, she had to know all of it. "Roux why are you ashamed of who you are?" Josephine asked gently and Roux jumped out of the chair so quickly it skidded backwards and fell to the floor. "I am NOT ashamed" He roared and had everyone in the café looking at him.  
  
He stomped out the door but Josephine was close at his heels. "You are ashamed Roux Callahan, everyone can see it. Something else that everyone could plainly see is that you were so in love with Vianne Rocher that it hurt you, because you knew as well as the next person that she wasn't going to say! And now, now this woman that you had a CHILD with of all things, comes to our sleepy little town, and you can't stand it because she represents everything you were, everything you still are on the inside!"  
  
Roux stared at Josephine like no one had ever talked to him that way before. A muscle in his jaw was twitching and his eyes were pitch black, gone was the color of rich warm chocolate. He muttered something quick and violent in Gaelic that Josephine was sure she wouldn't want to hear translated. "Everyone knew who I am, what I was," She continued when he only stared. "What I was like and I'm not hiding from it. I don't care if you like Peony or not," at the sound of her name, Roux winced. "But if you had any decency, if you want to prove to everyone here that you're better then the disgusting diseased river rat that everyone perceives you to be, you go down to that café and get closure"  
  
She spun on her heels and was half way back in Café Armande before Roux called back. "You said everyone, does that mean you too Josephine?" She eyed him for a long moment and flipped her dark curling hair over her shoulder and sighed. "I'm beginning to" She said and spit at his feet, which was very, very insulting. He could hear her shouting to someone inside the café in rapid French and he sighed. People who were walking down the cobblestone streets had now stopped and stared at the huge scene that he and Josephine had made. He sent them all shadowy, damning looks and they hurried off the streets as if he were going to attack at any minute.  
  
He stalked across the street, teeth set and jaw muscles twitching so horribly it looked like he was convulsing all over. Without paying attention, he ran into something that felt like a feather, but when he looked down at the ground, he saw a minuscule woman with corkscrew auburn hair and glassy cobalt eyes. "Sorry," Roux murmured as he bent down to help her up. "I wasn't looking". She batted her long inky eyelashes at him for a minute before a naïve smile crossed her face. "Not at all" She said a little dreamily and watched Roux walk away with a young woman's admiration.  
  
The sky was edging towards night when Roux reached Peony's café, the stars beginning to materialize in the clear blue-black sky and the moon shining down delicately onto the quaint French streets. He could hear the water lap at the sandy banks where he had docked before and he tried not to think about Vianne, he couldn't right now, no matter how much he wanted to.  
  
Chairs were stacked neatly on the tables when Roux knocked on the door a little crossly. She certainly took her time answering as he stood out in the frigid night air. When she did answer, her striking hair was piled neatly on her head and she was barely covered in a thin draping of sea green silk and lace. 'She looks like a rose', Roux thought to himself and for a minute couldn't say anything. "Do you have a point being here Callahan or did you just want to stare like an idiot?"  
  
"How is that supposed to keep you warm?" He asked, staring down at the material that clung to her breasts. "That's for me to know," She said in a charily cold voice that held none of the bite of the wind but twice the affect. "What do you want Roux?" She asked, a minnow of a golden eyebrow raised. "We need to talk, Peony, about our past" A cynical smile crossed her unpainted yet unmistakably feminine lips. "That's very splendid that you finally decided to believe that we actually had a past, but I can't tonight because I've had such a hard day and I'm very sleepy" As if to prove her point, she yawned into her palm and smiled a bittersweet smile before she shut the door in his face. 


	5. Chapter Five

Roux couldn't do anything but gape at the closed door with the white gauze curtains for a long moment before the heavy fog lifted from his brain and he was able to move his feet again. He took a few stumbling steps back and almost toppled off the steps at the sound of a soft voice. "Don't fall" The voice said. He cast an annoyed glare over his shoulder to the tiny woman from before. "You jinxed me" He murmured and straightened himself.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry," She said with a wily sort of smile. "You've been around all day. Who are you?" Her baby lips turned into a sort of pout. "I just happen to live here" She said and wrapped her arms tightly around the thick notebook she was carrying in her arms as if it were a shield. "Sorry," Roux murmured, slightly embarrassed, but he had had a rough time and had enough trouble with women.actually it was only one particularly sexy woman from Kinvarra that was giving him trouble.  
  
"I'm Roux Callahan" He said and extended a hand. The girl shifted the heavy notebook in her arms and took his hand. "Jemima DeWitt.although everyone just calls me Jem" Roux smiled a little suggestively. "Jem huh? Never really seen one" Jemima eyed for a lengthy moment. "Well you're not going to tonight" Roux laughed and started down to the road that led to the little one story apartment that he had bought, even though he figured he was never one for staying.  
  
He reached the building and to his partial surprise, Jemima climbed the three flights of stairs behind him, notebook still held tightly in her arms. He opened the door and let her walk in first. She stood and examined the slightly cramped apartment with polite interest, until she saw the rows and rows of pretty dazzling trinkets.  
  
She rushed over to the shelves and immediately, yet gingerly cupped the delicate jade steamed tulip whose tip was craved out of amber glass. "Where did you get this?" she asked in a voice so filled with quiet awe that she didn't notice the stem of the flower slip between her fingers. "Mon Dieu I am so sorry!" Jemima apologized plentifully as she hurried to collect the thick shards of what was once the pretty flower.  
  
"Don't," Roux said as he gently nudged her away. "You'll cut your hands". He scooped up the pieces into his wonderfully calloused hands and threw them into the trash bin, which was littered by oddly misshapen things wrapped in thick brown paper. He dumped the broken fragments into the trash unceremoniously and dusted off his hands. Rain began to fall miserably onto the cobblestones outside the fogged window and Roux noticed the slanted way Jemima was looking at from the corners of her astonishing eyes.  
  
"I'd offer you something to drink, but I doubt you're a day over 20" He said as he moved to the kitchen. She placed her hands on her lean hips. "I happen to be 22 if you don't mind, but I'll have to decline, I have lines to learn" She said as she hoisted the notebook a little higher. "You're an actress?" Roux asked impressed with a slight tilt of his head. Jemima smiled showing perfectly straight white teeth. "The leading lady" She said as she ran her long manicured fingers through her hair so the cute locks fell across her breasts which where showcased by a fleecy strawberry hued sweater that was very thin and surprisingly low cut.  
  
"That's very impressive" Roux said as he poured himself a pint of Guinness. Thunder rumbled distempered and the baubles rattled slightly on the shelves. "Where did you collect all those?" Jemima asked, turning her attention away from Roux's snug pants back to the shelves. "I didn't collect them anywhere, I made them". Jemima turned back to him, but her eyes were higher this time, and focused on his sculpted face. "You MADE them?" She asked skeptically. Roux nodded and picked up an exquisite bracelet of turquoise and Irish crystal and clasped it around Jemima's wrist.  
  
"A gift" He said softly with a smile that took a moment to fully cross his face, but by the time it did, Jemima was already drooling. "A pretty trinket for a pretty woman". She blushed cherry red and lowered her head. A particularly loud bang of thunder caused Jemima to jump in shock and she laughed embarrassedly. "Sorry," She said as blue lightening streaked across the room. "How far do you live from here?" Roux asked as he stared concernedly out the foggy window. "Rue St. Laurel" She replied quietly and he shook his head. "You'll be struck dead before you reach Rue Viscount. You'll stay here tonight"  
  
Jemima opened her mouth to protest, but he sent her a scorching look that quickly silenced her. "You'll sleep in my bed" He said curtly as he took her by the wrist and showed her the door to go through. "Where will you sleep?" She asked his back, a hint of a glimmer in her blue eyes. "On the couch" He said, turning about, and being a man, missed the disenchantment in her babyish face. "You'll find shirts you can change into, but no doubt they will be big on you". Jemima smiled her thanks and stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, just as she were half an inch away; he turned his head quickly and stole a kiss from her lips.  
  
Stars burst in her eyes but Roux missed them. He excused himself and disappeared down a short hallway. Jemima was still smiling when she closed the door of Roux's bedroom behind her and even though there were more charms and baubles on the stout shelves, the room was ultimately masculine. She pulled open a drawer that was closet to her and found about 6 undershirts in different stages of wrinkled and chose one that appeared to be the most newly worn. She was right, she could still feel the warmth of his strong body and sighed happily.  
  
She slipped out of her sweater and pants and slipped Roux's undershirt over her head, the hem falling just under her thighs. There was a knock at the door and Roux stepped in. "Now that's sexy" He said with a leisure smile and Jemima grinned. "Well thank you," She said with a wink and Roux couldn't deny that he felt a tug in his stomach. "It's late, I'm tired" Jemima said and this time it was she who stole the kiss from his lips that still tasted like Guinness, and as if to test his resolve, licked her lips slowly and in a fashion that was designed to make any man alive below the waist excited, and smiled seductively. "Yummy" She murmured softly and much like Peony had, shut the door in his face.  
  
Once Jemima heard his footsteps lead away from the door, she turned and nearly leaped into the bed that was crammed under the window. She nestled beneath the thick covers and breathed in the subtle scent of him, the slight smell of sweat, which wasn't at all disgusting, fresh laundry and sunshine; of which she guessed he tried the sheets outside on a balmy day. She sighed deeply and imagined how it would feel to have him under the sheets with her. 


	6. NOTICE!

YAY A NOTICE!!!!!!!!! I LOVE NOTICES DON'T YOU? THEY'RE SO INFORMATIVE AND CUTE!! YAY!!! Yeah I know I'm psycho, but I just want to say that if you want to get a visual of any on my original chick charries in my stories then you can just email me and tell me the name of the character and the I will send the pic of which I based my character on.  
  
You can email me at rubybutterfly217@aol.com and I'll be more then happy to send you a pic.  
  
BYE! 


	7. Chapter Seven

Having a beautiful woman sleep in your bed and not letting yourself touch her would drive any man mad, but to Roux, it was twice as distressing. He glanced out the foggy window and saw that the rain had began to let up a little. He pulled on a pair of old sweatpants that had the hem torn out at the end of the legs so instead of gripping his ankles uncomfortably, the material hung limp.  
  
It was nearly midnight when he slipped silently out of the apartment onto the wet and shivered against the cold that was turning his breaths into white puffy clouds of steam as he turned his head down to stare at the cobble stone pavement and began to walk. He always thought that everything looked different at night but now with the world dripping wet around him, it seemed alien.  
  
He didn't really mind the rain and cold, it matched his mood wholly. There was rustling all around him from the wind that was blowing miserably at the advantageously placed trees that filtered the moonlight so everything looked green. The subtle rustling grew louder when the wind did not and Roux turned around to see who was coming.  
  
She seemed to have stepped out of some fairytale. All long legs and wet curling hair the color of rich dark honey around her angelic face that showcased sexy eyes that had just a bit of a feline tilt, a dramatic mouth that was capable of smiling or pouting or sneering in just the right way to have a man drooling anyway. She could be the enchanted princess in every tale and man's dreams, but why did she look so miserable?  
  
He stepped to the side and she kept walking as if he were invisible. "Peony" Roux said her name almost at a whisper, but she jumped as if he had shouted it. Her eyes were wide when she turned. Her body got less stiff at the recognition, but her eyes remained cagey. It was such a contrast for the woman he had seen before that he almost began to wonder if perhaps she had some sort of twin, or if an alien had come and abducted her and replaced her body with an icky gooey pod which later hatched a bolder sexier of Peony Ellis.  
  
"What?" She asked when he only continued to stare at her. She hadn't hatched from an alien pod but she was definitely different, something about her was different, then he spotted it. On a very important finger on her right hand was a ring. "What is that?" He demanded a little too forcefully for reasons he couldn't explain. She looked down at the ring Roux was glaring at as if his life depended on it. "It's a ring, but I didn't expect you to know what it is, you never gave me one," She said like ice-cold fire. She turned to walk away but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him.  
  
"Who gave it to you?" He said and Peony decided that it would be pointless to try to get away now; his grip was like an iron vice. "Why do you care? You didn't care when you left" She said and watched him silently. "That's bullshit and you know it, and if you're trying to make me feel like shit for that even more then you'll have to try something else, because you left too, now who gave you the ring?"  
  
Peony's eyes filled with tears and Roux gave a torn sigh. "That would do it," He murmured. "Look Peo please don't cry," He said as he cupped her elbows gently and tried to embrace her. She shoved violently at his hard chest. "Damn you don't you tell me not to cry, I'll cry if I want to" Tears mixed with rain on her cheeks. "I'm not mad at you for leaving me Roux, but I hate you for running out on our daughter".  
  
He seen Peony furious, happy, and a range of other emotions, but he had never seen her so helplessly sad. It was as if some invisible hand had flipped a light switch and the woman who had been so spitting mad the minute before was now.there were no words he could think of that would describe how Peony looked at that moment. He felt as if something was slowly ripping apart in him.  
  
He opened his mouth to say something but Peony just shook her head and blinked back the last of the tears. "I'm sorry I felt Peo," Roux said honestly. "I'm sorry I left you and Sinead, but who gave you the ring?" Peony only stared at him through the tears as if she couldn't believe him. "Why do I need to answer to you?" She said, a sneer lightly touching her lips. "Because I'm-I happen to know that that ring is from Etoile, it's over 1,000 dollars" Peony looked down at the ring as if she were considering it. It was a gorgeous ring indeed, a thick band of platinum embedded with 10 small but incredibly beautiful pave diamonds  
  
Before Peony could answer, Roux plowed on. "And where are you getting all this money. You're not doing anything illegal are you Peony?" He growled. "Maybe I am. So what?" She shot back and raised an eyebrow, daring him to say something else. "What are you even doing awake at this time at night?" Peony shook her head. "Morning, Roux. And I can ask you the very same question?" "I couldn't sleep," He said a little too quickly and Peony eyed him for a lingering minute. "No, I doubt that I would be able to either if I had just picked up some girl off the street"  
  
"How did you know that?" He asked slowly. Peony smirked a little once more. "Windows darling, as you may notice, everyone has them" Something odd was happening in the deep pit of Roux's stomach. "You've changed," He said with a untellable emotion in his voice. She raised an eyebrow. "I believe I have, in fact I do believe that I've grown up, you may possibly want to try it sometime". Roux took a step towards her and admired the way that she didn't step back but tilted her chin up, making her look like a stubborn Irish princess.  
  
"I don't think I want to grow up Peo, but I do want to do this" He had his arms around her so fast that she didn't have time to fight him off. He could taste the tears and soft rainwater on her lips, blended with minty toothpaste and cherry lip-polish. She melted against him for a minute or two; either knew how long the kiss lasted, but when her nails bite painfully into the back of his neck and she hissed as she pulled back, he figured that it wasn't the smartest thing he has ever done. However, the way she felt when she forgot she loathed him at the moment, was unforgettable.  
  
"You do that again," Peony said in a voice that was close to a snarl, "I'll slice you into ribbons". As if the world around them sensed the mood, the rain that had been close to stopping started pouring from the sky as if the clouds had been holding it in until that exact moment. "I love when you talk dirty to me" Roux said with a sneer and had Peony's eyes shooting fire bolts at him and wondered why on earth he didn't just shrivel up and die.  
  
Roux knew that it wasn't the right time to smile now, but couldn't help it. "Oh, so the kitten has claws does she?" Peony hissed at him, which didn't exactly help wipe the smile off his face. "I have to open up the shop early in the morning," She said, looking for a way out of the situation that was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. "What time?" Roux asked conversationally. "Six, why?" "Well then it's not really in the morning is it then? It's really in 5 hours"  
  
Peony glared at him for a moment then turned on her heels and left him on the cobble stone sidewalk, her ring oddly glittering in the filtered moonlight and Roux wondered how he had missed it before, maybe he just didn't want to think that she could have another lover as well. Oh well, he mused, he would jump off that bridge when he came to it, but for now he figured that he should go back to see Jemima and what he could make of her. 


	8. Chapter Eight

**I've been going through a very hard time lately, I'm sorry I haven't updated forever, but I promise I'm going to start again**

Roux paced agitatedly outside Café Gealach as he watched Peony cleaning the shiny counters as she had an animated conversation with her pretty Aingeal. 'Damn her' Roux thought angrily as he kicked at the sidewalk and didn't do anything but hurt his foot.

He was about to reach for the door when another had beaten him to it. It was free of the nicks and bruises that Roux's had had, but neater somehow: long almost elegant fingers and neatly cut fingernails. Roux looked from the hand to the arm to the shoulder and finally to the face.

Pere Henri was looking at him sheepishly and quickly let go of the door and almost began shaking under Roux's dark look. "Mademoiselle Ellis is expecting me" He said, his timid voice doing it's best to become stronger but not quiet making it. Roux was about to open his mouth but before he could the door opened and Peony stepped out into the dazzling morning sunlight.

Because Peony knew that it would irritate Roux more, Peony reached out and gripped Henri's hands in hers and pulled him into the café. "Dear Father, I was hoping you would come visit me this morning, it's been very lonely with only Aingeal for company. What can I get for you today Father?"

Henri looked nervously between Peony and Roux before focusing his bright blue eyes back onto Peony's pretty face. "A coffee please" He said and relaxed a little when Peony flashed him a stunning smile. "Getting adventurous are we? Well the two of you come in and I'll fix you something"

Roux followed Henri into the quaint café and pulled up a chair at the counter where Peony had arranged a variety of pretty stones. She selected three little elegant coffee cups from the shelves and filled them with steaming black coffee before adding the cubes of sugar and fresh milk.

"I hope you like it sweet Father" Peony said as she slide his teacup to him. He took a sip and sighed with satisfaction. "It's very good" He said with a earnest smile. Peony grinned back at him as she placed a tin of biscuits on the counter in between the two men.

Roux snatched a biscuit from the pretty tin and bit into it angrily, half listening to the music that was playing over the hidden speakers, there was no singing this time, just lively Celtic flutes and fiddles that was typical for Peony to play in the morning.

Peony filled her own teacup with a sort of dark honey tea and she laughed softly when she noticed both men looking at her. "It's green tea," She explained as she set the top back on to the kettle and took a sip of her own tea. "It's supposed to help people loss weight, boost metabolism". "That's good," Roux said darkly "you don't want anyone mistaking you for a whale"

"You're wrong Piped up Henri a little heatedly where he sat on the counter. Both Peony and Roux turned and looked at him like he had sprouted a second head. "I think you're beautiful" Roux's scowl deepened when Peony blushed sincerely. She reached out and touched her hand to the back of Henri's and smiled the most heartfelt smile he had ever seen from anyone before.

"You're a remarkable man Pere Henri" She said softly and then it was his turn to blush deeply. Roux muttered something bitterly in Gaelic as he slammed 2 francs onto the counter top and stormed out of the café. Peony gave Henri an apologetic look and followed Roux out into the street.

"How dare you!" Peony demanded angrily as she grabbed him by the collar of his old shirt and nearly pulled him down onto the wet pavement. "You are the most rude, selfish most childish man I have ever met in my life. Go gcreime cúnna ifrinn do cheann!" She spat out at him. Normally Roux might have found it funny to have Peony wish that the hounds of hell would gnaw on his head, but not today.

"Stop the Gaelic Peony, we're not in Ireland anymore! We're not in Kinvarra!" She looked at him coolly, untouched by his sudden and intense anger. "You stepped off the ship and you just assumed that the world was going to stop for you Peony, but here's something you might of noticed, it hasn't. Josephine might play into your little Irish girl act and the poor bumbling priest might be in love with you, but don't imagine because they go with your little game, that you're still not the poor girl from Kinvarra.

"We're Irish Ellis, and to them we're the enemy. You are not a dog or a cat or a canary, you cannot be something that they'll love. So I think that it would be best for you if you just back your little bags and take your little self back to Ireland"

When he was finished and looked into Peony's eyes, there wasn't anything there but dreary nothingness. There wasn't even a tiny little spark when she reared back and slapped him hard in the face. "Callahan," She said slowly as she watched him with her unfriendly eyes "If I wanted you're stupid opinion I would have asked you for it, now please be so kind as to get out of my way"

Roux knew that he had reached the most dangerous of points with Peony, he knew what dangerous waters he was treading in now, but he was too prideful to back off now. As Peony brushed past him back to the café, he grabbed her slim yet strong arms and pulled her to him in a livid kiss.

He might as well kissed a piece of wood for all the emotion it brought out of Peony as she pulled away from him after he was finished with the kiss. "There Roux, you've kissed me. Now you can let me go and I can go back to my job and you can go back to your pathetic existence."

He watched her walk away from him, her hips swinging slightly and watched her say something to Pere Henri that made the both of them smile. He knew that she was becoming so friendly with the young priest just to spite him, or at least he prayed to God she was.

Peony placed the palm of her hand against Henri's smooth cheek and kissed him lightly on the lips and the sight of it made his blood boil. For a minute he considered going back to Jemima and making wildly passionate love to her, but he figured that it wouldn't do to play with a young pretty girl's feelings just because his were hurt. He looked down the deserted street and feeling defeated, he walked away with his head down, counting the cobblestones in the pavement.


End file.
